In recent years, in various facilities such as training facilities and business facilities, there has been an increase in the requirement to output a combination of a number of different types of contents such as video sequences, still images, text, and audio at the same time. For example, a desire has arisen to output a number of contents to a single display at the same time in order to convey a greater amount of information to users such as customers and students at one time. There is also a desire arising to output audio and text data relating to video sequences at the same time in order to convey information to a user in a manner that is easy to understand and effective using both a sense of sight and a sense of hearing.
For example, an STB (Set Top Box) has been put forward as a way of meeting such requirements. An STB is a terminal device having a function that connects a server and a management computer terminal via a network, connects an output device via a cable, converts a plurality of image contents distributed by a server into signals capable of being watched and listened on an output device such as a display, and outputs the signals to the output device. The STB divides a display region of a display into a plurality of regions based on description language such as HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and outputs a plurality of contents accumulated on the server simultaneously at each region.
Methods exist of notifying the user of the occurrence of a malfunction by displaying a predetermined icon, video sequence, or message in the region for displaying the content for which the malfunction occurred on the display when a malfunction occurs for one of a plurality of content outputs.
It is difficult though in this case to give a notification that extends as far as the cause of the malfunction. Here, “malfunction” refers to cases where it is not possible to display an image because, for example, the data format or size of the image is different, or a file of the image cannot be obtained. When log information corresponding to the malfunction is displayed, the amount of log information generated by the various causes is vast. The causes therefore cannot be sufficiently displayed in the display region for the content. When log information is displayed as far as other display regions for contents, it becomes difficult to see the contents. Even if the log information can be displayed, specifying the log information that is wished to be referenced from the vast amount of log information is troublesome.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method capable of easily displaying just the necessary portions of the output history of a plurality of displayed contents.